Clinton: I'm not what you think

At the beginning of her campaign, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s chief strategist said she was “famous but really unknown.”

So I asked her Wednesday how that was going.

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“One of the most common things people say to me is, ‘You know, you are not at all like I thought you would be!’” Clinton said and then laughed uproariously. “And I find that a very high compliment!”

Having been analyzed and psychoanalyzed in the media for years, Clinton said going out and campaigning is actually a relief in some ways.

“I want people to make a judgment about me, what I stand for, the person I am, based on as much firsthand impression as possible,” she said. “And I think that is happening.”

And what kind of person is she?

“I am focused on bringing to the White House a roll-your-sleeves-up, let’s-get-to-work, everybody-is-invited, good-ideas-are-welcome and hammer-out-what-we-need-to-do-together attitude,” Clinton said.

Which instantly brought to my mind the image of Rosie the Riveter in the famous “We Can Do It!” poster of World War II.

Which is probably not an image Clinton would object to. Her pitch is that she can do it.“I have a unique perspective from both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue,” she said. “I think the country is yearning for a president who will both seek common ground and stand her ground.”

But her opponents — both Republican and Democratic — say she is a polarizing figure. And won’t that make it hard to accomplish anything should she be elected?

“I don’t really know where that all comes from, but I think it’s both inaccurate and out of date,” Clinton said. “What I have done in the Senate, what I have done in this campaign really describes much more clearly what I will do as president.”

And, in fact, she says it is President Bush who has been a polarizing figure.

“You know, one of the great regrets of the last six and a half years is the president was unwilling, disinterested, in making common cause with Democrats and even with a lot of Republicans, it turns out,” she said.

She went on: “There are some issues, like privatizing Social Security, that are not going to go anywhere when I am president. But looking for ways we can enhance retirement security, protect Social Security, that is absolutely open for debate and discussion.”

Clinton said that having been a first lady for eight years and now as the junior senator from New York, “I know what works and what doesn’t work.”

When I asked if voters wanted a less-partisan, less-ideological president in 2008, she responded: “I think what people really want is for America to start acting like America again and solving our problems and getting results and kind of moving forward with confidence and optimism.”